We've had two and I work at a vet where I see tons of them... Both of ours were purchased from the same, extremely reputable breeder.
Our first one (Blenheim-- the common brown and white coloring) was the calmest, sweetest, most loving dog with a little bit of a diva personality. He could go anywhere and cause zero problems and was the definition of a lap dog.
Our second (all brown color called Ruby... A bit more rare) is very high strung... He took anxiety meds at one point and has a high pitched squeal anytime he goes somewhere, even on a walk around the block. He barks like crazy at the TV. He's also a super sweet dog but gets worked up more easily. Over the years talking to other owners it seems like this is pretty characteristic of the ruby color maybe since they're harder to produce and in turn it's harder to select for personality traits when breeding them.
I LOVE cavaliers and think they are just the cutest, sweetest dogs, but PLEASE take warnings about their heart issues very seriously before deciding to adopt one. It is truly a fatal flaw in the breed, and I've met very few cavaliers that haven't had heart failure by the age of 10 or so (off the top of my head I think stats say around 88% of cavs have Mitral Valve Disease by age 10). It's a tough and expensive disease...
We just lost our older cav (almost 10 years... right about average age for the breed) to congestive heart failure a few weeks ago a little over a year after his diagnosis. We caught it early and he lived pretty well with it, but if you pursue treatment of the disease, managing it is EXTREMELY expensive, stressful, and time consuming.
I would say the lovely personalities of the breed probably make the issues worth it if you're prepared, but I also think it's easy to brush off the severity of potential health problems down the road when considering a new pup, and in my opinion, while all breeds have specific issues, the heart failure that affects nearly all cavaliers (a majority of our doggy cardiologist's patients were cavaliers) is a particularly devastating one.
Hate to be a downer... LOVE LOVE LOVE the breed, hate the hereditary issues. From my experience, you won't be disappointed if you get one. Truly the sweetest dogs ever.
ETA-- not bad on the shedding but they definitely need to be brushed a lot, especially if you keep their hair long! Whether or not their bodies are clipped the ears need to get brushed out a lot because the mats get crazy! When they're excited or stressed (like vet trips, new environments), like all dogs, they can "blow coat" and shed a whole lot more, which may be what you experienced, mefordis
But he is 100% friendly with all people (including kids), other dogs, cats, etc. Our cat and him actually work together to steal our food 
